Asian Horror Film News June 28, 2025

An Indian comedy-horror can’t be shown in India, 2 more horrors open in Indonesia, Thailand gets its first “full-scale” horror film fest and Vietnamese executives are angry with their horror film.

INDONESIA

Two horror films open in Indonesia on July 3; ‘Arwah’’ and ‘Narik Sukmo.’

‘Arwah’ (meaning spirit) is about a vacation gone wrong, leading to guilt when one of five siblings dies on holiday. Then things get spooky. Doesn’t look too original. No English subs for this trailer:

‘Narik Sukmo’ (meaning pull the soul) is the fifth horror from director Indra Gunawan who is best known for ‘Hello Ghost’ which is streaming on Netflix.’ Narik Sukmo’ has a village in the woods, dancing and exorcism. These ingredients (especially the first two) seem to be really overused in modern Indonesian horrors but this still looks like something I’d enjoy watching and is nicely filmed. Again no English subs for the trailer, but it’s easy to see what’s going on:

THAILAND

Good news if you’re in Bangkok in early July, you can attend ‘Bangkok Horror Film Festival 2025' — billed as “the city’s first full-scale horror film festival!”

The event runs from 4 - 6 July 2025, at the old Maen Sri Waterworks building and admission is free. I don’t have any info at present regarding whether there will be subtitles for Thai films, but half of the films are American. This article has the lineup (half Thai horrors, half foreign). Six films (which aren’t new) hardly qualifies “full-scale” but the venue looks suitably spooky and we all have to start somewhere!

VIETNAM

Last week I mentioned the new Vietnamese horror film ‘Ut Lan: Oan Linh Giac’ aka ‘The Guardian Demon.’ It opened at number one at the box office this week but apparently the suits are unhappy because it didn’t sell as many tickets as they expected. Luckily these guys don’t work at Warner Brothers!

JAPAN

If you’re into the history of Japanese horror films then you’ll want to read this new article about the 1926 silent classic ‘A Page of Madness’ and the role of narrators in popularising it. The film is well worth a watch if you’re into avant-garde silent horrors.

The Tokyo International Shark Film Festival returns for its second edition beginning July 4, 2025. The screenings all take place at Ikebukuro Humax Cinema until August 3! Most of the shark films on offer are modern American low budget affairs but there are a few Japanese offerings including ‘Jaws in Japan’ (aka Psycho Shark), ‘Onsen Shark,’ ‘Last Shark’ and ‘Matsushima Tomoko Same Yugi -Game of Shark.’ Full schedule here (in Japanese).

If you’re in Melbourne, Australia next month then you can enjoy a seven-film program ‘Spotlight on Japanese Horror’ at ACMI. Starting on July 12 the schedule includes Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s ‘Cure’ (1997), screening in a new 4K restoration and two ‘Tetsuo’ films. More info here.

Classic Japanese ghost story ‘Yotsuya Kaidan’ has been filmed many times, most noticeably as ‘The Ghost of Yotsuya’ in 1959. It’s being filmed again in Prague by the director of ‘The Love Witch.’ This is not a Japanese film and isn’t set in Japan, rather it’s a loose re-imaging. However, it’s still something I’d love to see as I enjoyed Anna Biller’s ‘The Love Witch’ (2016) and know from her Twitter account that she’s a big fan of classic Japanese ghost movies.

In the meantime here’s the trailer for ‘The Ghost of Yotsuya’ (1959):

SOUTH KOREA

The Korea Times takes a look at Korean horror films being released this summer and digs into the themes tackled.

The list of summer horror releases includes the recently released ‘Noise’ (which I mentioned a few weeks ago in this newsletter). ‘Noise’ is gaining a solid reputation and looks promising from the trailer.

Elsewhere I read this week that the South Korean box office is having its worst year in two decades, so it needs a summer boost!

Latest update on the American remake of ‘Train to Busan’ ? James Wan still wants it to happen and says it will actually be more of a spin off than a remake. Beyond that there is no update to the project first mentioned in 2018!

INDIA

‘Sardaarji 3’ opened in some countries on June 27. The Indian comedy-horror comedy sequel is about a ghost hunter tasked with removing a spirit from a mansion (or castle depending on what you read) in the United Kingdom.

Despite the setting I’m not sure this is getting a U.K. release and it definitely won’t be getting a theatrical release in India as it co-stars Pakistani actress Hania Aamir. Hania Aamir is alleged to have made anti-India remarks on her social media account earlier this year during the brief India-Pakistan conflict.

This has led to all kinds of threats against her and the Indian people involved in the film. According to The Independent “Two major film labour unions – the Federation of Western India Cine Employees and All Indian Cine Workers Association – have released statements calling for a boycott of Dosanjh.”

Dosanjh being lead actor and Indian citizen Diljit Dosanjh who filmed this before the recent India-Pakistan conflict.

Meanwhile it opened in Pakistan a few days ago where the Indian horror is said to be performing well at cinemas.

Until next week.

Thanks for reading and have a horror filled weekend.